UNICEF and the Global Goals

UNICEF is committed to doing all it can to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in partnership with governments, civil society, business, academia and the United Nations family – and especially children and young people.

News note

UNICEF joins tech giants in artificial intelligence group

NEW YORK, 17 May 2017 – UNICEF joins the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI) founded by Amazon, Apple, Google/DeepMind, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft.

Through the partnership UNICEF’s Office of Innovation will forge collaborations to scale the use of AI for social good through innovative solutions to humanitarian challenges to benefit children.
Through collaborations with tech companies UNICEF data technologists can use AI to solve societal problems. An example of this is the Magic Box platform, which pools data from partners like IBM, Google, Amadeus, and Telefonica to inform real-time decision-making in emergencies like earthquakes and floods.

Chris Fabian, Senior Advisor, Ventures, UNICEF Innovation said, “UNICEF has always been an organization driven by data - and the capacity to process and learn from the massive amounts of data that exist around us will let us work to improve the life of every child.

“We are in a position where we can connect the needs of the world's most vulnerable children to the capacities of the most advanced technology.

“We believe that machine learning and the future of AI will help us address globally relevant issues like the spread of disease, responses to climate change and disasters, and the uncertain future of jobs and employment.”

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Notes to Editors:

About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
For more information about UNICEF Office of Innovation visit www.unicefstories.org and @unicefinnovate
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About The PAIThe Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society (Partnership on AI) is a not-for-profit organization, founded by Amazon, Apple, Google/DeepMind, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft. Our goals are to study and formulate best practices on the development, testing, and fielding of AI technologies, advancing the public’s understanding of AI, to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society and identify and foster aspirational efforts in AI for socially beneficial purposes. We actively designed the Partnership on AI to bring together a diverse range of voices from for-profit and non-profit, all of whom share our belief in the tenets and are committed to collaboration and open dialogue on the many opportunities and rising challenges around AI.